American Airlines Pilots' Union: We're Under Pressure to Fly Faster

Are flight schedules too tight for safe travel? One union may be claiming just that.

One of the most common issues travelers face is the dreaded delayed flight, be it as little as 15 minutes—or as long as a few days. Though passengers are understandably unhappy about being grounded, airlines are just as upset; delays represent lost time, wasted fuel, operations dilemmas, unfavorable feedback, and a ding to their overall performance. So are they trying to eliminate delays by simply flying faster?

According to a recent article in USA Today, Dan Carey, the newly named president of the American Airlines pilots' union, revealed that pilots were reporting "pressure to approve faster flight plans," changing routes and, even when taxiing, "using paths and speeds deviating from what would normally be considered rational." In a letter to union members, Carey suggested that "American is trying to avoid canceling flights when crews push the limits of their legally allowed work shifts." Manipulating a flight plan in this way would supposedly allow the crew to work more flights while pushing the federally mandated limit on work hours, which, for cockpit crew, varies from nine to 14 hours.

American Airlines company spokesperson Joshua Freed told Condé Nast Traveler that "safety and regulatory compliance are always the first and foremost consideration in every decision and in every facet of our company—and we are fortunate that our pilots are the best in the business. Our integration and associated changes are complex and we remain committed to working together with all employee groups to ensure that this ongoing process is thoughtful, smooth, and orderly."

While these allegations haven't been investigated and it's unclear if other airlines are putting similar pressures on their crew, the more common approach of padding flight schedules is more prevalent: Airlines have been known to pad schedules to keep flights on time and thus boost their record. For example, flights from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Chicago’s O’Hare are regularly scheduled for two hours and 45 minutes, even though the actual duration, given optimal conditions, is only around two hours. Those extra 45 minutes are a kind of grace period, a buffer for if (and when) delays occur, due to anything from airport or airspace congestion to having to fly longer routes to avoid weather. Occasionally your pilot will admit this, making an announcement like the one recently heard on a flight from Chicago to Detroit: “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. As you can see from the line of airplanes ahead of us, we’ll have a long wait to take off today, but our schedule takes things like this into account and we expect an on-time arrival into Detroit.”